Saturday, August 19, 2006

Pete's a real winner

Pete Bennett has won Big Brother 7. Well done Pete!
I've mentioned him before in two previous posts, here and here, only because he has Tourette's. (Don't for one second think I'll be covering BB8!)
He's going to use the prize money to pay off his mum's mortgage (aww, wee sowel), and the rest to promote his band Daddy Fantastic.
If the music is good, there is no reason why Pete and the band shouldn't be successful. Tourette's should be no bar to performance. Indeed, the very act of performance helps keeps the symptoms at bay. That's what I've found whenever I go on stage - and I've been on stage a lot. The worst bit for ticcing is actually the few seconds before you go on stage. I always have an explosion of tics, just to clear myself. Once you're performing, however, once you're immersed in the role, or the song, your subconscious takes over, and the performance becomes your entire being.
Pete has brought Tourette's screaming and swearing, right into the mainstream of our culture. It means that now, when people ask why I'm shaking my head, I can say Tourette's, and they know what I'm talking about.
To me, Pete is a hero. He deserves his good fortune, and I wish him every success in the future.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very similar to stuttering in that when singing, there are no symptoms.

Are you a singer or actor? Or both?

Deacon Barry said...

I've been doing amateur theatre since leaving school, and I love Karaoke.